A man who hates the passion cuts off their causes. But a man who remains among their causes experiences even against his will the conflict from the passions. It is not possible to be mentally inclined toward a passion if one does not love its cause. For who, disdaining shame, is given to vainglory? Or who, loving lowliness, is bothered by dishonor? Who, having a broken and humble heart, accepts fleshly sweetness? Or who, believing in Christ, is concerned about temporal things, or argues about them?
~St. Mark the Ascetic
Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Syrophoenician woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, and Merciful Healer, in Matthew 15
Oh beloved, it is true.
We are dogs. And, though the Chinese culture has a calendar that is already well into its 5th millenium, it comes around every twelfth year to remind us of the truth.
We are broken beyond repair.
We need G_d more than we will ever know.
We are willing to return to our vomit and consume it.
We are animals that will bare our teeth and bite the hand that feeds us.
We are rejected and alone.
Can we see it?
The Syrophoenician woman understood it well. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was an outsider and someone who could only – actually – expect the crumbs that might fall off the table of the King of the Universe.
But G_d…
The magic of her realization and confession is what drew in the very heart of the King to meet her request and set her daughter free. She realized that she was broken and could do nothing apart from Him.
But Dogs can learn new tricks and become the best friend of the Son of Man.
We are made whole by Him.
We find that He really is all that we need.
We begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness instead of the world.
We, now, only bare our teeth at the evil one. We hate only the lies and evil he brings.
We will never be alone again.
So, do you feel discouraged by your failures? Do you see that you are a dog? Welcome to about the 393rd time the Chinese calendar has reminded you of this. But, knowing the truth of our failure and fallenness is actually the path to our victory and healing.
Tonight is your night. Time to know that you (and this fool of a writer) are dogs.
When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God loves man: not that He has some ‘disinterested’, because really indifferent, concern for our welfare, but that, in awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, the ‘lord of terrible aspect’, is present: not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist’s love for his work and despotic as a man’s love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father’s love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes. How this should be, I do not know: it passes reason to explain why any creatures, not to say creatures such as we, should have a value so prodigious in their Creator’s eyes. It is certainly a burden of glory not only beyond our deserts but also, except in rare moments of grace, beyond our desiring;
~ CS Lewis, from The Problem of Pain
